How to Play Slide Guitar With a Flat Pick
Playing slide guitar with a standard, flat guitar pick is a method of producing a slide guitar sound without having a professional slide. Slide guitar has been used by many guitarists, such as Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters, as well as more modern artists such as Jack White. Slide guitar is usually played with a cylindrical slide, which you wear over your desired finger, using it to fret notes and slide around the guitar neck. This can be done, in a basic form, with a guitar pick.
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Instructions
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Tune your guitar as required. Many slide players prefer to use open tuning, because this allows you to play chords using one finger. Open tuning is literally a tuning that produces a chord with no notes fretted. Open G tuning is a favorite of many slide guitarists. This sets the strings at -- from thickest to thinnest string -- D, G, D, G, B and D. See Resources for more information on open tunings.
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Find a suitable pick to use as a slide. Any thickness of pick can work, but use a medium or thick pick for the easiest and most efficient slide. The length of the pick will hold you back if you want to play slide guitar songs, but you can use multiple picks to cover more strings. Most picks can be used with three strings. You will also need a pick for your picking hand.
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Decide which finger you are going to use for your slide. You can use any finger other than your index finger, because that is required to mute the strings you don't want to sound out. The middle finger is preferable for many players, but you can use your ring or pinky finger if you wish.
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Place the pick -- or picks -- on your desired finger and affix them using sticky tape. Wrap the tape around the back of your finger and attach it to the pick. A pick is triangular in shape, so attach the tape to the protruding corners, leaving a strip of guitar pick down the center. Preferably, use double-sided sticky tape. Simply wrap it around your finger and then stick the pick onto the tip. If you are using multiple picks, stick the second one lower down on your finger, taking over where the first one finishes.
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Fret a note on the guitar with the finger that has the pick -- or picks -- on it. A single pick is likely to cover a few strings, and if you've used open tuning, fretting multiple strings on the same fret will produce a nice sound. Press on firmly so that the note sounds out if you pluck the strings you are fretting. The hardest part of playing slide guitar with a pick is keeping the notes fretted, so practice your technique.
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Play a note, and drag your slide finger up or down the fret-board. The pick will slide across the frets and produce the distinctive, smooth, slide guitar sound. Gently lay your index finger on a lower fret than your sliding finger to mute any unwanted strings. Keep pressure as you slide up and down the neck, to ensure the note sounds out clearly. Enjoy using a flat pick to play slide guitar.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit acoustic guitar image by Tanya McConnell from Fotolia.com
